The Real-Life King Arthur May Have Been a Roman Equestrian Who Served Marcus Aurelius

King Arthur. The search for the historical figure behind what is arguably the most famous cycle of legends ever has been relentless over the centuries. Many think he was a Romano-British military commander in the 5th/6th centuries who fought the Anglo-Saxons and saved Britain in its infancy. But other historians put the real-life Arthur at a much earlier date, arguing that the man whose story started the traditions of Arthur was a soldier name Lucius Artorius Castus who lived at the end of the second century A.D.
There are enough historical clues to reconstruct Castus’s extraordinary, which career took him from one end of the Roman Empire to the other, bringing him into contact with tribespeople amongst the Steppe nomads – in particular the Sarmatians. For several decades the Sarmatians have been thought to be the inspiration behind Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table, among other British tales.
Today’s guests are John Matthews and Linda Malcor, authors of “Artorius: The Real King Arthur.” We focus on Castus’s career, not only commenting on the parallels with the Arthurian tradition but also providing details about the Roman Empire of the second century A.D. along the way.